Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)

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Resisting Media Socialization: A Psychological Study of University Students’ Temporary Social Media Disengagement

Authors
Qiaoxi Sun1, *
1University of Sussex, Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom
*Corresponding author. Email: Augustxxchina@163.com
Corresponding Author
Qiaoxi Sun
Available Online 15 December 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_8How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Social media disengagement; Self-regulation; temporary social media disengagement; Digital culture
Abstract

This mixed-methods study investigated the psychological mechanisms underlying university students’ temporary social media disengagement behaviors. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 participants (ages 20-25) and quantitative analysis of survey data from 431 university students, we examined three key hypotheses: motivational factors driving disengagement, social comparison effects, and psychological well-being outcomes. Qualitative findings revealed that students primarily disengage from social media to reduce anxiety and regain control over their time and attention. Quantitative results confirmed significant correlations between social media withdrawal, social comparison tendencies, and psychological effects (all p < 0.001). Mediation analysis revealed that psychological effects partially mediate the relationship between social media withdrawal and social comparison (indirect effect = 0.202, 95% CI [0.135, 0.272]). The study contributes to understanding digital well-being and self-regulation strategies among young adults in the contemporary media landscape.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
15 December 2025
ISBN
978-2-38476-509-6
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_8How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Qiaoxi Sun
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - Resisting Media Socialization: A Psychological Study of University Students’ Temporary Social Media Disengagement
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 71
EP  - 85
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_8
ID  - Sun2025
ER  -